The origins of March 8 and the myth of the fire
In the collective imagination, March 8 is often associated with a factory fire in New York, in which around a hundred women died. However, although a similar tragedy did indeed occur, it occurred on March 25, 1911 and has nothing to do with the birth of Women’s Day, which had already been celebrated for some time.
The true meaning of Women’s Day
Today the celebration of March 8 is often reduced to mimosas, gifts, dinners and stripteases, but these consumerist traditions have emptied the original meaning of the occasion. In reality, Women’s Day was born from the struggle of hundreds of women who sacrificed themselves to gain fundamental rights, such as the vote, access to work and equal pay.
Its roots lie in the first feminist and socialist movements, when Women’s Day was established in the United States after the VII Congress of the Second Socialist International, held in Stuttgart from 18 to 24 August 1907.
Corinne Brown’s speech and the first demonstrations
During that conference, in the absence of the official speaker, the socialist Corinne Brown spoke and denounced the exploitation of female workers, gender discrimination and the need for universal suffrage.
Although the time was not yet ripe for radical changes, her intervention fueled the feeling of empowerment among working women. The first battles and demonstrations started from there, until the celebration of the first Women’s Day on 23 February 1909.
This date officially marks the beginning of a new awareness, leading the American Socialist Party to create a section dedicated to the fight for women’s rights.
The role of the workers’ strike and the Copenhagen Conference
In 1910, a significant event further strengthened the fight for women’s rights: 20,000 workers went on strike for three months in New York, demanding decent working conditions and a fair wage.
That same year, the International Conference of Socialist Women in Copenhagen, inspired by these events, officially established Women’s Rights Day.
Over time, more and more European countries joined the celebration, which spread rapidly until the outbreak of the First World War.
Why March 8th? The link with the Russian Revolution
The choice of March 8 as the official date has its origins in revolutionary Russia in 1917.
That day, in St. Petersburg, women organized a large demonstration to demand rights and an end to the war. Their demands went unheard, but the protest turned into one of the triggers of the Russian February Revolution (according to the Julian calendar, which corresponds to March 8 in the Gregorian calendar).
In 1921, to commemorate this historic event, the Second International Conference of Communist Women definitively established that March 8 would be International Women’s Day.
We should remember this every time this day degrades
Today, Women’s Day is often trivialized and reduced to a commercial holiday, far from the struggles that made it necessary.
Women themselves should be indignant at the exploitation of the anniversary, rediscovering its true meaning. Women’s emancipation was not a gift, but the fruit of historic battles for the right to vote, divorce, family law reform and employment equality.
Women’s Day should return to celebrating the courage and determination of those who fought for the rights that we take for granted today.
